The Artifacts Of Elios (Book 1) (16 page)

The crowd went wild as the official signaled the score and the U of J Lions called for a time out.

In a distant Army mess hall tent a large crystal screen was showing the game to a large congregation of soldiers.  With the soldiers all in uniform it was difficult to tell what team they were cheering for; except for when one of the teams scored.  At the front of the mass of viewers there huddled a dozen or so civilians decked out in their school colors; their allegiance quite apparent. 

A group of magetech student was
cheering exceptionally loud, led by a uncharacteristically beautiful blonde scientist shouting at the top of her lungs “Go Shane GO!”

Ava was thrilled and was pointing excitedly at the screen “I
should have gone to his games, who knew warball was this fun to watch.”

“I can’t believe you
never watched him play before,” chided one of her fellow students.

“I can’t believe he’s an academic.  It’s not fair he is so smart and good looking,” spoke one of the other female magetech students.

“Back off Sister,”
said Ava, “we’re dating.”

“Just in case you change your mind,” the other girl teased back.

“He reminds me of Dr. Evan’s, Minister of IDAD, back in his day,” interjected an older Archeologist from U of J.  “He was a handler for the wizards back when he was young.  He led the Wizards to a championship win against U of J; He really used to make us mad; but then he graduated and came to U of J for his doctorate in Archeology so all was forgiven.”  The older man laughed.

Suddenly a blaring claxon began to sound.  Instantly the soldiers scrambled and filed out of the tent to their stations.  The group of civilians looked around in confusion.

“I wonder what that is for,” someone thought out loud.

The older
Archeologist took charge and instructed the group to stay together and remain in the mess hall.  He then hurried away to the command tent to find out what was going on.

After an hour of waiting the civilian scientists and researchers were about to leave the tent to see what was going on when the claxon ceased it’s wailing.  Moments later the Lead Scientist, followed by a pair of armed soldiers, entered the mess tent.  “Everyone follow me we are in extreme danger here; we’re
all getting back on the ships.”  The Archeologist did a head check as each of the researchers and students filed past.  He was one short.  He double checked and looked to see who was missing.

“Hold up he hollered.  Has anyone seen Miss Desmond?”

All of the others nodded negatively, some commenting that she was just there a second ago.

“Maybe she went to the washroom,” said one of the students.

“Go check the latrines,” directed the Archeologist to one of the armed guards.  “The rest get to the pier immediately.”

“Excuse me miss, could you spare me a moment of your time?”  Ava heard a low voice ask just as a hand tapped her on the shoulder.  Ava let out a startled yelp as she turned to see a tall middle aged man that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.  She calmed down from her surprise as she took in the smiling demeanor although he had very serious eyes.

“I’m sorry, you startled me,” she exclaimed.

“I sincerely apologize,” that was not my intent.  It’s just you are in danger and we have several mutual acquaintances that would greatly appreciate your safety.”  He held out his hand, “if you would come with me please.”

“What acquaintances,” she asked raising a questioning eyebrow.

The man smiled even wider, “your uncle Ari for one, your father for another, and your Aunt Leslie.” 

Ava, with some trepidation took the man’s hand.  He then calmly
held up a small artifact in his other hand and pressed a glyph with his thumb.  And Ava suddenly found herself in a new location.

By half time defense had tightened up and both teams were giving and taking at an even pace although the wizards were up by
five points the Lions had managed to get ahead in goal clearing; so it was still anybody’s game.

As Shane’s team
sat in the locker room most of the team felt as if they had run a marathon and were all physically drained and exhausted.  The coaches were a little upset; angry because they had had two days off prior to the game and they all looked as if they had been up all night carrying on.  After a number of them protested that they had all rested and had honored curfew the coach’s lightened up as they began having scrapes and sprains attended to.

W
hile they were listening to the coach outline the second half strategy, there was a slight commotion as several well-dressed people with twice as many royal guards entered the open bay locker room.

“Your majesty,
” the coach rose to his feet and bowed his head.

As the team all started to stand, the king waved them down saying
, “please remain as you were.”

As the team resumed their wrapping and bandaging the king told them how great a team they were and congratulations on a well fought first half.  The king went around the room shaking everyone’s hand commenting to each player as he made his way around the room.  When he got to Shane he commented on his t
wo quickly scored goals, his several other steals and goals he had made since then, and how entertaining his intensity was to watch, and to keep up the good work.  As if an afterthought he added, “I understand that you are top of this year’s magetech class and are graduating at the end of this term.”

“That is correct your majesty,” responded Shane sensing that it was more of a statement
than a question.

“I certainly hope you look into some of the career research opportunities at IDAD, I would certainly hate to see talent like yours go to waste just doing run of the mill magetech for one of the other three markets.”  The king laughed as if he had made some sort of joke.

“Thank you your majesty.  I will definitely look into it.”  Shane didn’t mention that he had already received an offer directly from the minister of IDAD inviting him to interview for a research position.

The king turned to an aid
standing nearby.  “Stafford, make sure the boy gets a letter from me to the minister.”

“Yes
your highness,” replied Stafford; not mentioning that IDAD was already recruiting him.

The king finished making his way around the locker room ending with the coach wishing him a successful second half and then he and his retinue departed except for the man he had instructed to leave a letter for Shane to the IDAD Minister.

Shane was lacing his shoes back on and was reflecting on how refreshed and undamaged he was compared to his fellows and considering the intensity of the game so far.  He was glad he had put the glyphs on his clothes.  He rationalized it wasn’t cheating as it only was meant to keep him safe.

As the kings man approached Shane stood and the man handed him a piece of paper saying, “here take this, read it after the game.” Without another word the man departed.

Shane was tempted to read the paper but the half time was nearly over and the coach was hustling players out the door.  He went to his locker and using what little glyph mastery he had practiced, he mentally used the simple hide enchantment on the note hiding it in plains sight on his locker shelf then he glued the door shut for good measure.

Shane’s team was ahead but by only two points.  Both teams only needed to clear a final goal each; the U of J Lions goal on one side of the field, the Wonstrowd Wizards on the opposite side.  Both goals were worth three points so whichever team scored first would complete their final goal and would win the game.  

The last thirty minutes had been a stalemate both teams defending magnificently.  The stadium was a roaring torrent of shouting and cheering; so loud it could be heard nearly across the city.  Both teams were beginning to tire
but Shane’s team was dragging.  It was when, for the tenth time, Shane had barely made a block that had saved the team from defeat that Shane suspected that something was off.  Wondering if the other team was cheating somehow he began watching closely.

A b
reak finally came as Shane was tackled Lions handler who was wearing a yellow wristband with a red stripe; he then saw what was happening.  The Lions Handler was using an artifact to give him energy. 

Energizer bracelets had been around for a long time
and were forbidden in the league.  The various types were often sun glyph powered but some were military in nature and were powered by taking energy from your opponent; archeologists had theorized that they were designed for infantry in hand to hand combat. 

Using his ever sharpening lumen senses, Shane was able to see the artifacts glyphs in his mind.  As
he watched carefully he saw how the Lions handler reached out to drain an attacking Wizard battler. Shane tried something new; he reversed the activation process and withdrew the lumen from the glyphs.  As the energy that the cheating player expected failed to come he tripped and accidentally grounded the ball.

Shane hurriedly
yelled to a nearby Official, “Hey they’re cheating; he’s got an artifact built into his wristband.”

As the ball was dead due to
the grounding, the Official called the Handler over and examined the players arm then tossed a red flag from his pocket and called a technical; this was immediately followed by a second red flag as a team technical was called.  An official time out was called and a mage from IDAD was called to the field to validate if it was indeed an artifact.   The player realizing that the artifact had failed and began to protest that it wasn’t active so there should be no penalty.  Just before the IDAD official arrived on the scene Shane reactivated the energy band with lumen; and for good measure deactivated the glyphs on his shirt and socks.